Fastehim clasp



(No Model.) L. HILL. FASTENING CLASP.

Patented Feb. 12', 1884.

Wifr E5 5 E5,

' UNITED. STATES rare-m rrren,

I LUGIAN HILL, OF NORTH BROOKFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THEODORE G. BATES, OF SAME PLACE.

FASTENING-CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No; 293,247, dated February 12, 1884.

Application filed December; 13, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUOIAN HILL, of North Brookfield, county of Vorcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Fastening-Clasps, of which the following clescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to that class of fast ening-clasps wherein a plate having an elongated eye contracted at one end is made to co operate with a headed stud. In this class of elasps it has .been common to employ springarms, the free endsof which extend across the slot in the plate, so as to yield laterally when acted upon by the headed stud and permit the stud to pass the arms, the latter springing in behind the stud and retaining the latter in the narrow end of the slot, the width of the slot at that end being less than the diameter of the head of the stud.

Vvith-springfarms as heretofore constructed it frequently happens, when inserting the head of the stud through the larger part of the slot in the plate and moving the stud in the said slot, that the head of the stud passes between the arm and the plate, thus springing the arm upward away from the plate and destroying its efficiency. To preventthe possibility of the entrance of the head of the stud improperly between the said arms and plate, I have provided the edges of the slot in the plate with a flange, a part of which latter is, however, omitted or cut away, to enable the acting ends of the spring-arms to pass the edges of the slot and extend partly across the same, the arm or arms, one or more, constituting a lock-clasp.

My invention consists, essentially, in a lockclasp composed of a plate provided with a slot having a contracted extensionand flanged, as described, and of an attached spring or springs constituting arms, one'end of each arm being extended partially across the said slot, and being'adapted to yield. to permit the passage of a headed stud into the narrowest end of the said slot, and then to spring behindand lock the stud therein. V Figure 1 represents one of my improved fastenings or lock-clasps separated. Fig. 2 represents the same closed; Fig. 3, a section of Fig. l on the dotted line as m,- Fig. 4, a similar there being in Figs. 1 to 5 two such jaws rep- 4 resented, and in Fig. 6 but one such j aw. These jaws rest close to and move upon the flat side of the eye-plate D, and the said jaw or jaws,

at their free ends, normally extend partially across the slot h h, as represented in the draw in s.

S /Vhen providing the plate D with a slot, h h, composed of a large eye and a more con tracted extension, I provide the said plate more or less about the said eye with flanges 3 4, extending from the plate in the direction of its thickness, the depth of the said flanges preferably equaling or being in excess of the thickness of the arm or arms used, so that the head of the headed. stud, when being passed through the said slot or when being moved therein longitudinally, cannot pass laterally beyond the edges of the slot and between the said jaws or arms f and the slotted plate D. The flange 3 prevents the possibility of any part of the spring-arm passing across the edges of the enlarged round part It of the slot, the only part of the slot into and through which the enlarged head of the stud O can enteror pass. The part 4 of the flange about the small end of the slot h h serves as a rest or support for the under side of the headed stud O, and holds the latter up level with the tops of the said arms, thereby preventing the-head of the stud from falling below and during the backward movement of the stud from the small into the larger part of the said slot, passing under the front ends of the said arms.

In Figs. 1 to 4 the spring-arms are produced from wire; but in Figs. 5 and 6 the said arms are composed of thin sheet metal, stamped or cut out to shape. j

I do not claim the slotted plate or the springarms by themselves, as I know them to be old.

When but one spring-arm, f, is used, it may be composed of either fiat sheet metal or of wire; and I also desire it to be understood that, if desired, the plate D may be applied or riveted upon the steel A so that the spring-arms will fall between the said steel and the plate D, the latter, when thus used, being countersunk or chambered to receive the spring-arms. In this latter modification the plate D will cover the spring arm or arms used, and the flanges 3 4 will project toward rather than away from the person, as in the drawings.

I claim 1. Thehereindescribed plate, provided with a slot having a contracted extension, and having a flange, 3, extended more or less about the large part of the said slot, "combined with one or more spring jaws or arms, the front ends of which are adapted to extend partially across the said slot, and to yield laterally to co-operate with the headed stud, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

2. The plate D, slotted and provided with a flange, 4, about the small end of the slot, combined with one or more spring jaws or arms extended partially across the slot in the- Witnesses:

BENJ. L. SAMPSON, HERBERT H. FAIRBANKS. 

